Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and technologies related thereto.
Description of the Background Art
In the image forming apparatus, the number of mounted functions is increasing year by year, and the number of setting buttons (function buttons) each corresponding to each of the functions is accordingly increasing. Therefore, it is difficult to concurrently display all of the buttons each corresponding to each of all of the functions on a menu screen of an operation panel (display unit).
To address this issue, there is a technique in which, of many buttons arranged in a row in a predetermined direction, a part of the buttons are displayed, as display object buttons, on a menu screen and in which the display object buttons are changed according to a scroll operation in the predetermined direction (such a technique will be also referred to as a “one-line scroll display technique”).
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-68700 discloses the technique in which a part of buttons (icons) of many buttons (icons) are displayed, as display object buttons, in a row in the horizontal direction in a list display area and in which the display object buttons are changed (scroll-displayed) according to a scroll operation in the horizontal direction.
In addition, there is also a technique in which a plurality of function buttons on a menu screen are arranged in a grid-like manner (such a technique will be also referred to as a “grid-like display technique”).
For example, FIG. 1 of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-209383 shows total four function buttons arranged in the vertical direction and the lateral direction (two rows×two rows).
The one-line scroll display technique of the above two display techniques provides an advantage that a user only has to move his or her eye only in a predetermined direction (one direction) to find an intended button from many buttons that are arranged in a row in the predetermined direction and scroll-displayed.
However, because many buttons are displayed while being scrolled and the position of the intended button occasionally moves on the screen, the user sometimes overlooks the intended button. In addition, the one-line scroll display technique has a characteristic that visibility at a glance is not good because it is difficult to increase the number, of the buttons which can be arranged on the screen, to more than a predetermined number (for example, 10).
In contrast, in the other grid-like display technique, relatively many (for example, 20) function buttons can be concurrently displayed on the screen in a grid-like (two-dimensional) arrangement, and a relatively high visibility at a glance can be obtained. Further, in the grid-like display technique, since each of the many buttons is always displayed at the same position (unique position), the user can access an intended button relatively quickly if the user remembers the position of the intended button.
However, the grid-like display technique has an aspect that the user has to follow the existence of an intended button with his or her eyes in two directions of the lateral direction and the vertical direction when the user looks for the intended button on the menu screen and that it is not easy to follow with his or her eyes.
As described above, these two types of display techniques have advantages and disadvantages, and if one of the two types of display techniques is only used, the user cannot obtain high operability in some cases although depending on the user's preference and/or usage.